Chapter 6 - THE NIGHT GRAHAM FINALLY SPOKEThey didn't go home.
Graham drove to a quiet overlook above the city.
The lights below looked like scattered stars.
Maren sat beside him, one hand resting over her stomach.
“Tell me.”
Graham exhaled.
“My mother never wanted me.”
Maren's heart sank.
“What?”
“She loved Corinne.”
He stared at the city.
“She wanted a daughter. She got me first.”
He smiled without humor.
“When I was five, I asked why she never hugged me.”
Maren said nothing.
“She told me boys didn't need that.”
His voice became quieter.
“I believed her.”
He told her about birthdays where Corinne received elaborate gifts while his were left unopened.
About school plays Helena didn't attend.
About hospital visits where she complained that he was making everyone worry.
About the one time he had cried after being bullied.
Helena had told him:
“Stop embarrassing this family.”
Maren's eyes filled with tears.
“Graham…”
He shook his head.
“I learned early that if I needed something, I shouldn't ask.”
That explained everything.
The emotional distance.
The silence.
The way he apologized even when someone else hurt him.
Maren suddenly understood that Graham wasn't strong because nothing could hurt him.
He was strong because he had spent his entire life hiding the hurt.
Then he said something that made her heart stop.
“There was another reason my mother hated me.”
“What reason?”
May you like
Graham looked at her.
“My father.”
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